Tag: malabeads

Living at a time in which sound is everywhere and silence is scarce, our bodies and minds are reacting to an overload of frequencies every day. From the subtle hum of the refrigerator, to car engines, chirping birds, aeroplanes, our favourite songs and our own voices – sound effects us on a profound level without us even knowing. Emotions, thoughts, the body’s cells and organs, heartbeat and nervous system respond to sound, so how can we tell which sounds are healthy and which can harm? How is sound used as therapy, and can we find every-day sounds to help us heal and rebalance?

Sounds Good….

With a recent explosion in the popularity of sound healing as a therapeutic tool, and a simultaneous rise in silent retreats, it seems we’re all beginning to understand that we can use both sound and silence to enhance health on a deep level. Gong baths and sound soirees are currently the ‘new thing’ amongst wellness enthusiasts of the West, gathering in candlelit halls and lying draped in soft blankets, surrounded by ambient tones of crystal singing bowls and deep metal gongs. In a sound healing session, wither one-to-one or as a group, you can expect to experience a multitude of instruments such as chimes, shakers, rain sticks, bells, bowls, drums, and even the practitioner’s own voice. Each aspect of the session (‘sound journey’ as they’re sometimes referred to as a nod to shamanic traditions) can have leave a profound and lasting impression upon the listener, and it turns out we haven’t just ‘discovered’ sound healing, but – much like Yoga, Ayurveda, Meditation and Chinese Medicine – have re-connected with it after thousands of years.

Sound has been utilised in various cultures for as long as recorded history. Going back at least 3,000 years, the Vedic tradition of reciting mantras and hymns from sacred texts is thought to be the world’s oldest surviving vocal tradition, whilst Mesopotamian cultures considered music an art, with scriptures mentioning professional musicians and even notated music. Indeed, civilisations were writing music all those years ago, and the oldest known melody known as the ‘Hurrian Hymn’ was discovered in Syria in the 1950s, written upon a clay tablet and preserved for over 3,400 years. 3,400 years later, we’re still writing music, still developing new sounds, heading out to see music being performed, and dancing to rhythms and beats just like we have for thousands of years.

Sound Healing & Stress Reduction

Both dancing to music and listening to it have been shown time and time again to reduce stress levels, release endorphins and bring the nervous system into a more balanced and health-promoting state. This calmer state of being is incredibly helpful for reducing blood pressure, slowing breathing and heart rate, thus having a knock-on effect to the whole body and everything we do with it, like sleeping better, making healthier food choices, feeling more energised, and generally being a little more content.

Certain frequencies have been shown to be most effective at inducing different types of responses, as you may know if you’ve already taken a dive into the world of Binaural Beats. The 528 hertz frequency is known as the ‘miracle frequency’, and is thought to have a genuine healing effect upon DNA, and is the very same frequency used by genetic biochemists. Renowned medical researcher Dr. Leonard G. Horowitz goes as far as to say “528 cycles per second is literally the core creative frequency of nature. It is love”. Sound healers will often use specially made tuning forks to bring the body into a different state, and whilst an un-weighted tuning fork can emit the sound of 528 hz, a weighted tuning fork (one which is placed on the body) literally sends the vibration and essence of the sound through someone, so they can feel and experience the tone whether their hearing is optimal or not.

Sound Nutrition

Whilst the old adage ‘you are what you eat’ is something most of us have heard, we may not consider that we’re not just what we eat, but that we’re made up of each and every experience we digest each day. Other than foods, all other inputs we come across have to be ‘digested’ by the brain, body and subtle channels – every sight we see has to be taken in, processed and either kept in the brain or allowed to leave if it’s unimportant, and in the very same way, sounds have to be ‘digested’ by us too. We can think of sound as not just something swirling around us, but something that travels in, around and through us too. Just as we may think of the nutrition of our food, we can also consider the nutrition of our sound.

If we could measure sound like we do superfoods, the best kind may be the 528hz frequencies and binaural beats, but sometimes the most natural and oldest sources of sound are the most healing. Head outside and away from roads and air traffic, and you’ll begin to tune into the sounds of nature; leaves rustling in the wind, birdsong, rushing water and insects, if you live near a beach maybe it’s the waves that provide a natural sound source for you – and these are the sounds available to us that can be most healing. Published in the journal of Scientific Reports, a test involving participants listening to either the sounds of nature or manmade sounds whilst undergoing a brain activity scan, and asked to perform tasks afterwards. What the results showed were that those listening to the nature had a overall more external-focussed attention (associated with decreased symptoms of worry, rumination, narcissism and selfishness) and also a decrease in stress levels. If however, we were to decipher the toxins of the sound world, this would be 19hz, as it can elicit feelings of fear, dizziness, discomfort, possible panic attacks and blurred vision.

If you’re looking to ‘hack’ your way to health, other helpful frequencies for decreasing stress and anxiety include the barely audible 17hz (the lower end of blue whale sounds), 174hz – apparently a natural anaesthetic, 396hz, and 432hz. To experience the wonder of sound healing, look up your nearest session, and head outside for a wonder in nature to find your own free health-promoting frequencies!

Please note: None of the information in this piece is intended to give medical advice. Always consult your doctor before attempting a new health regime, and do not use this text as medical advice.

Sitting down to find space within myself to find more space without. This mala was such a gift at the right time. Neither of my pregnancies have been easy but I have been wondering at my own strength, whether I have what I need. At my own path, am I headed the right way? At the uncertainty of it all. Smoothly running beads between my fingers and knowing they have been held in the hands of women across the world, the outside falls away. There is no time here, only the movement of breath and mantra and emotion. Peace. Elusive and quicksilver slipping in and out between all the distractions of the day, I find it here.
“What are you doing mama?” My three-year-old asks me.
“Meditating,” I tell him.
“Why?”
“Because it makes my soul happy.” And together we repeat on an inhale and exhale. Ham-sa.
I am that.
I am.
I am.
I am.
Underneath all the distractions, the way my body is changing to hold another life, the way I get caught up in not being able to see, the way I am struggling to make room for myself while still be a mother, a wife, a friend, an artist – underneath all is the cool clear water I come back to. I am. Spirit.

Welcome to day five of the #CreateByTheMoon challenge! Today is the day we enter the research phase of your project (clue’s in the title really!). The moon is still in Pisces and so is encouraging us to use our imagination…so go ahead and daydream as much as you want!

By now you should have a clear idea of what it is you are creating and how you’re going to go about it so now it’s time to delve deep and fill in any gaps in your knowledge you may have. For example, if you’re setting up a business or blog, perhaps have a look around at what others are doing avoiding, of course, any self-deprecating thoughts like, ‘oh I’ll never be able to do that,’ ‘that’s a really good idea/business/blog, I’ll never think of something as good as that’…yes you can and yes you will. No one can do what you can do, because you’re YOU and that’s what makes you different. Pep talk over. My point is that if you are in the midst of starting something, our egos can often take over and tell us bare-faced lies about not being good enough, clever enough, creative enough or just enough…the sort of lies you’d never say to a friend and definitely wouldn’t tolerate if someone said them to you.

Immerse yourself in books, useful, relevant websites, art, music. Anything that’s going to help you in developing whatever it is you’re developing. Maybe find someone who can help you develop your project, someone who’s been there or that you think might be able to help you to get to the heart of it. Research is about taking yourself out of your own head and seeking information you don’t already have. It’s also about trial and error, taking time to find out what works and what doesn’t so make like an Aquarian and get both sociable and adventurous!

Take care to ensure that you stay ‘on task’ (a phrase that never ceases to remind me of my teaching days!) and focused on what you’re doing. If you are researching and find yourself looking at articles, websites or anything that isn’t going to help you in this project, stop, give yourself a mental nudge and come back to your intention.

If you are practising yoga today, perhaps focus on something that will keep you focused and out of your head too much: take a studio class instead of practising at home; if you are practising at home, maybe try an internet class from a platform like yogaia.com, who do live classes. A set sequence style like Astanga might work for you today, to fit in with the masculine moon we are currently under.

Whatever you choose, I hope you can find some time to focus on getting what you need from your research in order to get ready to move into the ‘practice’ phase on Monday.

We try to find footing on the damp edge of the future.
We slip
We stumble
But the edge remains near us
And yet so hard to find.
Our feet grip the earth
Toes sinking into the soft ground
Feeling as though we may tumble off.
The soft ground that leads to an unknown drop
The slippery future that we just can’t see or grasp.
Feet slipping in the damp earth
Trying to hold our ground
Trying to stay here and now
While holding on to the futures edge.
We sink our toes deep
Gripping with all we have.
Our toes sinking in
Holding on
To a future unknown.

On Saturday, I was blessed enough to guide seven unique and beautiful souls through a mala-making workshop. We dedicated the practice to Parvati, the Goddess of sacred marriage and I chose a Lakshmi mantra so I thought I’d share this today as my Monday Mantra.

For me, creating a mala (I sell my pieces here ) is all about connecting intuition and wisdom with insight and action. In Indian philosophy this is known as the union of the Kriya Shakti (the energy of manifestation – think Durga in all her creative force) and the Jnana Shakti (the energy and power of intellect and wisdom). In these guises, and for the benefit of my intentions for the workshop, these can also be seen as, respectively, Parvati and Shiva. Shiva is the power of consciousness, more than that, He IS consciousness itself. In order for this sacred masculine to act within the world though, he needs the energy of action; he needs the power of the divine feminine in the form of Parvati. In the words of the wonderful Sally Kempton, ‘Shiva and Parvati ultimately stand for the union of stillness and power, or wisdom and bliss.’ (Awakening Shakti, pg. 150). There is so much more to their relationship, and I encourage to do your own investigations, but to keep this post brief, I’ll leave it there and just say that Parvati, being the combination of both Kriya and Jnana, powers both our dreams and desires, and advises us on the HOW – HOW we will bring these into being; HOW we will make the abstract concrete.

When we unite these powers, these energies, these ‘shakti’s’, we can create something from ‘nothing’ (of course, nothing is every really ‘nothing’ as even our thoughts have vibrations). I brought in the Lakshmi mantra as it’s a mantra I’ve been using with my own Vedic chanting teacher. The mantra is as follows:

Om Shrim Shriyei Namaha

which roughly translates to:

Om and salutations to the creative abundance that is the very form of the universe.

I’ll now break it down a little (as best I can) to give you an idea of what this means to me. The word ‘shrim’ is the bija mantra for the Kriya shakti. For the benefit of Saturday’s workshop then, this felt perfect. We spent a little time visualising the intention for the mala that was to be created and then used our Kriya shakti to design it and ‘birth’ it into being. As ‘shrim’ is also the bija sound for the goddess Lakshmi, it seemed to combine the ideas perfectly. She is the goddess of abundance in all things. If we unite the powers of stillness and power, then we will bring about abundance in all things, including in creativity, which is very much what I rely upon when creating a design.

The weekend was also the super full moon in Gemini and the start of Mercury’s final retrograde of the year (finishing on 23rd December), so a time for reflection and a merging of both the masculine and feminine energies and recognising any conflicts within yourself, using the light of the completely beautiful and BRIGHT moon to show up your shadows in order to move through, express gratitude and release anything that is holding you back. The retrograde can be a shaky time but this is a good one for being brave and acting in your full creative power. Again, there is so much to that but I want to keep this post as brief as possible but in terms of abundance and creativity, this weekend was pretty special.

I encourage you to use this mantra for a week and perhaps journal (free writing is my favourite exercise) your insights surrounding what both Parvati and Lakshmi have brought you. Keep this mantra with you throughout the day and allow you mind to come back to it in times of self-doubt or when inspiration seems lacking. Close your eyes and use either a mala, a wrist mala or just the creases in your fingers to recite the mantra 9, 18, 27, 36, 45, 54, 63 72 or 108 times (or any number that would total nine when all constituent numbers were added up).

Breathe deeply and know that you are these goddesses; that you are both the Jnana and the Kriya. They are all there within you.

The sunlight is shining through the large glass pane to my right, warming my face. On the other side of the glass, which runs the length of the room, the trees are wearing their new autumn colours while the thrum of the city is going on behind them.

When I close my eyes I can still see the silhouette of the stranger sitting be-headphoned in front of me. The library is always busy enough that tables need to be shared with new people in a comfortable silence.

The rest of the library isn’t silent. Is that really true of anywhere? But the noise is low and calming: children talking to their parents in exaggerated whispers, library staff giving advice in hushed tones, bags being emptied of books and tools of study. I can hear a man giving a monologue behind rows of shelves, I can’t hear the words, but it has the tune of elaborate explanation. I wonder how well it’s being received by whoever is the subject.

Here I sit between the qui-rov and the lat-lus of the fiction section. A million words in those shelves and a scattering of words out here.

This magical mala came to me on the first day of fall, the anniversary of our friendship, a crescent moon, the moon of Lord Shiva. An auspicious time.

She laid across my heart like a healing hand, an encouraging friend. The flash of rainbow in her labradorite face lit up like a laugh. She made me smile through my tears. A smile that turns the corner of my lips like the points of a crescent moon pierces the sky. Light in the darkness.

I chose to meditate on the beach. A place where sand meets water. Where now meets always. The space between what was and what is. Constantly shifting like the surface of the water. Dancing waves concealing great depths.

There could never be enough time to drink it all in. Not in this lifetime, not in 10 lifetimes. The eternal moment.

The feeling of the grass under my skin. The penetrating warmth of the sun on my face. The gentle gurgling sound of the water licking the rocks. The sparkle of the sun on the lake shines like spilled glitter. Life all around.

Some ducks preen on a broken dock, others dive for bugs; they move like see saws…tail, head, tail, head. The minnows dart in shallow green-grey water. The shadow of a gull streaks across the canvas of pebbles and sand on the lake floor. The shadow maker glides gracefully to land a few feet from where I sit. A small spider scurries erratically in the grass, each blade bending to its 8 tiny limbs. In the distance someone paddle boarding, digging the paddle into the water and slowly skimming forward, dig and drift, dig and drift. The leaves above slowly turn flame colored at an imperceptible pace. Distant vehicles flash like little shiny bugs as they crawl over the bridge. A sailboat careens serenely, a white triangle in a blue square.

I don’t want to leave this place. But I must. All things end. All moments blend into the next. The Now is simultaneously beginning and ending forever.

And so you and I will always be. The sweetness of your love. The touch of your fingertips on my temple like the sun kisses me now. I wish I could sneak back into forever. Those moments that seemed to stretch on beyond the horizon, beyond the scope of time. The sun always sets. Summer turns to fall. I tried to stretch your love like like a blanket, pull the corners around to fit, pull and plead and squeeze and groan, say over and over, “This is enough.” Still, I turned in my sleep, uncovered feet, wondering if this too-small sheet could keep me warm.

And so instead of waiting until the fibers fray, until your face is worn with the effort of trying to be something your not, I must go out into the cold alone. I need to make my own warmth now, stoke the fire of my own heart until it burns so bright that I could light the world with its radiance. And you were the spark, my dearest friend. I will love with all the passion you showed me. Fierce and forever. Full and forgiving. The kind of love that seeps into all the cracks of loneliness and rejection and fills them with acceptance.

Every breath on my lips is a kiss. Every beat of my heart is an embrace. I love you. Now and always.

I am a 500h certified yoga instructor who’s been living and teaching in Kelowna BC for the last 6 years. I teach at TWP Fitness as well as manage Shift Power Yoga in West Kelowna, where it is our mission to create community and share tools that empower people to live their most extraordinary lives!